Test Tools with Two True-Differential Time-Domain Reflectometers

Date
09/25/2018

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10 and 15 GHz TDRs go anywhere for pinpoint measurement of signal-integrity issues

Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.– Teledyne LeCroy announced the launch of Teledyne Test Tools (T3), a branded portfolio that adds a comprehensive range of test equipment to the Teledyne LeCroy product offering. T3 products complement and leverage Teledyne LeCroy’s decades-long leadership in oscilloscope technology and are supported by the Teledyne LeCroy Sales and Customer Care organizations. The T3 brand, which establishes a turnkey platform for test engineers, developers, and schools, takes flight with the launch of two new ultra-portable, inexpensive, reliable, and highly accurate time-domain reflectometers (TDRs).

True-Differential TDRs Address Previously Unmet Market Need

Teledyne LeCroy’s two new TDRs, the T3SP10D (10 GHz) and T3SP15D (15 GHz), offer customers a ground-breaking combination of portability, reliability, and functionality at a cost-effective price point. Before the availability of Teledyne LeCroy’s 10- and 15-GHz TDRs, portable tools were either much costlier high-end TDRs, or single-ended instruments with limited functionality. The single-ended approach, which characterizes a device under test (DUT) with mathematical calculation of frequency and time-domain characteristics, is not accurate enough to meet today’s need to understand and control impedances from end to end in the channel. Furthermore, modern serial-data standards such as Ethernet and USB require measurement of impedance matching in the frequency domain using S parameters (S11), which would require the use of an unwieldy vector network analyzer.

Unique Value Proposition

Teledyne LeCroy’s T3SP10D (10 GHz) and T3SP15D (15 GHz) TDRs stimulate the DUT with true differential and common-mode signals. This unique combination enables designers of high-speed data channels, test engineers, and field technicians to precisely locate impedance discontinuities that can adversely affect a data signal’s rise times, pulse width, timing, jitter and noise content, resulting in degradation of overall system reliability and functionality.

Teledyne LeCroy’s TDRs deliver several key benefits including:

Accuracy: Using the same open short load (OSL) calibration standards as vector network analyzers, Teledyne LeCroy’s TDRs reach high levels of impedance plot accuracy.

Portability: With a small form factor, light weight, and optional internal batteries, the instruments can go anywhere in test labs or in the field to measure impedance discontinuities in applications such as ECUs, Automotive Ethernet, and cable testing, and in industries including automotive, aerospace/defense, IC manufacturing, and telecom.

Precision: They precisely identify and diagnose signal-integrity issues in interconnects, transmission lines, serial-data channels, and cables.

High-Value Features

The TDRs offer fast rise times of 50 ps (T3SP10D) and 35 ps (T3SP15D) for fault resolution (in FR4) of 4.2 mm and 3 mm, respectively, at DUT lengths of up to 40 meters. TDR repetition rates of up to 10 MHz rival that of costlier TDRs. The instruments also come equipped with an ESD protection module based on high-performance coaxial RF switches that protect the TDRs’ RF-signal detectors from the input connector when the instrument is not in use, a feature highly valued by users for its potential extension of the instruments’ life span.

Pricing and Availability

The Teledyne Test Tools T3SP10D and T3SP15D TDRs are available now at prices starting at $19,780. Options include internal battery, storage/travel case, phase-matched cables, differential probes, calibration kits, and on-site training. For further information, visit teledynelecroy.com.

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